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InkFlaskCambridge IGCSE

Pupil sheet · Blood vessels

The main blood vessels — questions

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Try every question before you use a nudge. Write in full sentences where you are asked to explain.

1. identify

Which vessel carries blood from the heart to the lungs?

Circle one answer.

  • the pulmonary artery
  • the vena cava
  • the pulmonary vein
  • the aorta

Nudge (only if you are stuck): It carries blood away from the heart, so what kind of vessel is it?

2. complete

Complete the sentences about the vessels of a kidney.

Blood is brought to a kidney by the … .

Blood leaves the kidney in the … .

Urine leaves the kidney in the … , which is not a blood vessel.

Nudge (only if you are stuck): "Renal" means of the kidneys.

3. identify

Supplement. Which vessel carries blood from the stomach and small intestine to the liver?

Circle one answer.

  • the hepatic portal vein
  • the hepatic veins
  • the renal vein
  • the hepatic artery

Nudge (only if you are stuck): It is a vein, but it does not go to the heart.

4. identify

The diagram is a map of the main blood vessels. Match each letter to the vessel it shows.

The map of the main blood vessels with nine vessels lettered. The heart is near the top with the lungs above it, and below it the liver, the gut, a kidney and the rest of the body. A: dark red blood from the heart's right side up to the lungs. B: bright red blood from the lungs down to the heart's left side. C: the large vein running up the left of the picture into the heart's right side. D: the large artery leaving the left side and running down the right of the picture. E: from D into the liver. F: from the liver into C. G: from the gut up into the liver. H: from D into the kidney. J: from the kidney into C.

Write the number of the matching option.

  1. pulmonary vein
  2. pulmonary artery
  3. aorta
  4. renal vein
  5. ureter
  6. vena cava
  7. renal artery
  • A: ______
  • B: ______
  • C: ______
  • D: ______
  • H: ______
  • J: ______

Nudge (only if you are stuck): Start with the heart: which vessel brings blood from the body, and which takes it to the body?

5. describe

Put the vessels and places in order for a red blood cell travelling from the left side of the heart to a kidney and back to the heart.

Write the number of each step in order.

  1. the right side of the heart
  2. the kidney
  3. the vena cava
  4. the aorta
  5. the renal vein
  6. the renal artery
  • Step 1: ______
  • Step 2: ______
  • Step 3: ______
  • Step 4: ______
  • Step 5: ______
  • Step 6: ______

Nudge (only if you are stuck): Leave the heart in the largest artery.

6. identify

Supplement. The diagram shows the blood vessels of the liver. Match each letter to the vessel it shows.

The blood vessels of the liver with three vessels lettered. The liver is at the top, the stomach and small intestine below it, with the aorta down the right and the vena cava up the left. X: from the aorta into the liver. Y: two vessels from the liver into the vena cava. Z: from the stomach and small intestine up into the liver.

Write the number of the matching option.

  1. hepatic portal vein
  2. renal vein
  3. hepatic veins
  4. hepatic artery
  • X: ______
  • Y: ______
  • Z: ______

Nudge (only if you are stuck): Which vessel comes from the aorta, which from the gut, and which goes to the vena cava?

7. describe

Supplement. Describe the difference between the blood brought to the liver by the hepatic artery and the blood brought by the hepatic portal vein.

(a) Hepatic artery

(b) Hepatic portal vein

Nudge (only if you are stuck): Where has each blood just come from?

8. identify

The diagram shows a kidney with three tubes lettered. A surgeon transplanting this kidney must join two of them to the patient's blood vessels and one to the bladder. Which letter goes to the bladder, and which letter is joined to a branch of the aorta?

A kidney with three tubes lettered. The vena cava and the aorta run side by side on the right of the picture. K: from the aorta into the kidney. L: from the kidney into the vena cava. M: a pale tube leaving the kidney and running down.

(a) To the bladder

(b) To a branch of the aorta

Nudge (only if you are stuck): One tube is not a blood vessel.

9. suggest

Supplement. Some drugs swallowed as tablets are much weaker than the same dose injected into a vein in the arm. Suggest why, using the vessels of the liver.

Nudge (only if you are stuck): Where does a substance absorbed in the small intestine go first?